However, data that Luck The data collection by staff was primarily for internal use. This continued until 1955, when the magazine’s then-assistant editor Edgar P. Smith said readers would be interested in the information, and it turned out he had made the right bet.
“Overall, the 500 has become a broad window into the US economy and a guide for everyone. It has been quoted by presidents and congressmen, analyzed by economists and considered by business leaders,” said the former Luck Editor-in-Chief Carol Loomis wrote for the 40th anniversary of the list.
In 1955 Luck The magazine published the first list of the 500 largest US companies by revenue, albeit with the less catchy title “Annual Directory of the 500 Largest Corporations.”
General Motors tops the list with $9.8 billion in revenue, followed by Standard Oil of New Jersey, which was later renamed Exxon. The top five included US Steel, General Electric and meatpacking company Swift, which eventually merged with JBS USA.
These first 50 largest companies, with combined revenues of $69.4 billion, were in manufacturing, defense, energy and other similar sectors, as the original Fortune 500 list did not represent a complete picture of the largest players in the U.S. economy. Instead, the original list focused on these more tangible industries, and it was not until 1994 that the methodology began to include all companies that file their financial information with government agencies.
This does not mean that the magazine did not look at other sectors of the economy. For example, banks had their own Fortune 50 list.
Of the first group of Fortune 50 largest companies, 14 are still on the list, including GM, Goodyear, Lockheed Martin (then Lockheed Aircraft) and Boeing, which has recently been plagued by quality control controversies. Companies that were at the top of the list in 1955 and have proven their staying power account for 28.5% of the total 49 companies that appeared on the list in all 70 publications. Although this number has remained stable since 2022, it was recorded 60 companies in 2016, which managed to secure its place on the list throughout all its years of publication.
Here is a list of the original top 50 companies of 1955:
https://app.datawrapper.de/archive/recently-edited?search=1955#/xvovo